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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>[sent by Gavin on behalf of Carrin]<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>Hi </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>We need to be careful about restricting the
non-FOSS topics only to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">South
Africa</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Many developing world
delegates will only get sponsorship if they can present, and as they are
unlikely to be using FOSS, we are immediately excluding many people from
participating. And they will want to be there because they want to learn.
Obviously there needs to be a strong FOSS content, but I think we should
rather look at the topics and see where people from developing countries could
contribute. Only developing countries have Millennium Development
Goads (MDG) among other topics (see below) and if they are not using FOSS
does that mean that we don't want to hear what they have to say? And if
no-one can do a presentation on the MDG's using FOSS, do we simply close that
session? There are a number of topics where we want people to demonstrate
what they are doing and to see how what else can also be done using
FOSS. There may be instances where FOSS can't do what people need to be
done, and that should be part of the debate, where is it applicable and where
isn't it. I would really like to see FOSS
people discussing/debating</span></font><font size=2 color=blue><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'>/</span></font><font color=blue><span
style='color:blue'>advising people about what they could use for their projects
in areas where FOSS is not being used and </span></font><font size=2
color=blue><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'> relevant </span></font><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'>presentations are not available. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>So I'd suggest that we open up non-FOSS
talks to the developing nations and see what sort of response we
get. If no-one is using FOSS for the MDG's is there not some
way we can create an opportunity for this group to have access to people who
can see the abstracts beforehand or sit in on the session and generate some
discussion afterwards. Developing countries will come because they
want to learn about FOSS, but they will want examples from developing countries
because we operate under very different constraints to the developed
world. People will want to come to the conference because they will learn
something, and I think we need to find a way of educating people using
relevant topics. The gist of the motivation was education through debate,
and for that you need both FOSS and non-FOSS. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>some of the other topics in which there may
not be many people using FOSS in the developing world:</span></font><font
color=black><span style='color:black'> </span></font><font color=blue><span
style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Palatino><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:blue'>Sustainable Development
</span></font><font color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Palatino><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:blue'>Millennium Development
Goals </span></font><font color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Palatino><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:blue'>NGOs, CBOs, community
development</span></font><font color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Palatino><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:blue'>Land management and
reform </span></font><font color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Palatino><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:blue'>Disaster management </span></font><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Palatino><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:blue'>Participatory
GIS </span></font><font color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Palatino><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:blue'>cheers</span></font><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Palatino><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:blue'>Carrin Martin </span></font><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Palatino><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:blue'>GISSA </span></font><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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